Syllabus in stereo

MUSICAL CHAIRS Next semester Epitonic.com cofounder Justin Sinkovich takes over for Martin Atkins, pictured on the right at the chalkboard, as the AEMMP’s resident industry expert.

Photo: Tim Nurczyk

If graduating Columbia College student Ronny Sage had his way, the campus valet would place a copy of the new AEMMP Records Chompilation in every car stereo, and the CD would be piped into elevators throughout the South Loop campus. “With a lot of his ideas, I had to put my foot down because they would’ve gotten me fired,” David Lewis says with a laugh; the 33-year-old is one of two adjunct faculty members in charge of guiding Sage and six of his classmates through the trial-and-error process of running a record label—part of the school’s Arts, Entertainment and Media Management Department.

Polygram Records chief Irwin Steinberg and former Down Beat publisher Chuck Suber started the student-run label in 1982. But the AEMMP (pronounced “amp”) imprint recently has been recharged with two industry veterans taking the reins. Lewis—a former publicist for Blur, Dr. Dog and comedian Patton Oswalt, among others—is joined by former Public Image Ltd. drummer Martin Atkins, regularly found around town promoting his Tour:Smart handbook for aspiring rock stars. Together, they’re leading an aggressive rebranding effort centered around Chompilation, which takes a snapshot of Chicago’s independent music scene with songs from familiar names like Walter Meego and Office beside tracks from current Columbia students like indie-rockers Netherfriends and hip-hop chanteuse Ms. Smith.

From the beginning, the yearlong practicum class faced the daunting task of transforming an outdated entertainment model into a working operation that could continue to serve artists beyond spring commencement. “It’s kind of mind-blowing to me that it’s the oldest student-run record label, because there’s this weird 27-year history without any traction,” Lewis says. “Before, they’d produce and release a record, do some kind of marketing and then shelve it. Press 1,000 and then stick them in a closet.”

This time around, the students favored statistics over subjectivity with a data-driven evaluation process. After reviewing 100 initial submissions, seminar members assessed each act’s commercial viability to whittle down the list—factoring in MySpace hits and Facebook fans along with old-school numbers monitoring artists’ gig and tour regularity. The top 30 acts made the cut.

Sage, 22, handled marketing while other students covered retail, publicity and production. Some visited brick-and-mortar businesses to place the album on consignment, even as they’re faced with an industry on the decline.

“We’re a record label in 2009, when that business model is deeply problematic,” Lewis says, “The only thing that matters is the filter—that taste-making element.” As the label assembles a stable of talent to feed future releases, it finds hope in an impressive list of thriving alums. “Columbia launched the Cool Kids, Flosstradamus and Kid Sister,” Lewis notes. “In an ideal situation, those artists would’ve gone through AEMMP Records before they graduated.”

For now, AEMMP aspires to the promising academic model put forth by MAD Dragon, the student-operated label of Philadelphia’s Drexel University, best known for issuing the Redwalls’ self-titled third album after the local band was dropped from Capitol Records. Though Lewis won’t name a monetary figure, he emphasizes that AEMMP’s budget is “enough to justify an artist taking it seriously.” But unless the label can develop a culturally relevant and community-minded entity, “it’ll continue to be this sort of empty gesture,” he notes. Even with an improved model, few of his students likely will eke out a living in the music business. “We’re not training kids to work at record labels,” Lewis says, “We’re using the record label as a place to learn how to be problem solvers.”

AEMMP Records hosts a record-release show at Reggie’s Rock Club’s Thursday 14.

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